Significant positive developments for the Global LGBT community have occurred recently, including marriage equality developments in the US, UK, Ireland and other Countries. However, as recently highlighted by US President Obama, the LGBT Community still faces significant challenges, particularly in Africa and many other developing markets. LGBT Capital believes that as well as highlighting the importance of achieving equality for the LGBT community Globally, the financial value offered by the LGBT market will support the arguments for Countries and Companies to become more inclusive.

LGBT Capital’s in-house economist uses macro economic data and modeling to estimate LGBT-GDP and LGBT-Wealth metrics. LGBT Capital believes the resulting statistics to be powerful in demonstrating the value and potential of the LGBT consumer market. It is estimated that the Global Spending Power of the LGBT consumer segment is US$3.7 trillion per annum, with an LGBT population estimate of about 450 million. Asia is fast developing, already with an estimated LGBT-GDP in excess of US$1 trillion and with China alone estimated to have an LGBT population of more than 80 million.

Paul Thompson, LGBT Capital’s Founder said ‘We believe these numbers to be extremely important in demonstrating the value offered to both Countries and Companies by the LGBT consumer segment. The estimated population of the LGBT community worldwide is higher than the total population of the United States and the estimated LGBT-GDP nearly equals the GDP of Germany!’

LGBT Capital, which recently launched a specialist Wealth Management service for the LGBT community, also estimates the size of Global LGBT-Wealth, the LGBT Household Wealth. This is estimated at being an astonishing US$15 trillion globally, with over US$5 trillion in the US alone. LGBT Capital also researches the impact of LGBT travellers on Global inbound Tourism & Travel and GDP. This is estimated to have a per annum impact of more than US$20 billion in the US and over US$5 billion in each of several European Countries, and an LGBT impact on GDP in excess of 1% for some Countries with high-dependency on tourism in GDP.

Paul Thompson added ‘Not only does the LGBT consumer represent significant spending power but as is generally accepted, due to more frequent and longer travels, the sector punches well over its weight when it comes to tourism spend. The LGBT population also has very significant household wealth. This community is growing in voice and power, and we believe this will support the Global LGBT Diversity & Inclusion development and should to be taken very seriously and command respect.’

Anders Jacobsen, Chief Economist and Head of Investment & Research at LGBT Capital, observed that “Progressive LGBT Corporate policies are increasingly being driven by the recognition of the significant business opportunities offered by credible LGBT-friendly values and branding. Indeed, this corporate bottom-line impact was the key driver in the development of the investment model underpinning our LGBT Diversity Fund [www.lgbt-fund.com], as we wanted to demonstrate that LGBT Diversity and Inclusion can support companies in targeting this significant and growing market, as well as realise productivity gains and enhance their capacity-to-innovate, among other potential benefits.’

For more granular and country-specific data, please visit www.LGBT-Capital.com Data & Research or to request a copy via email of the ‘2015 Report – Executive Summary’, please email info@LGBT-Capital.com with subject line “LGBT-GDP”.